Wire traces for perch

[Anderoo]

No never mate! not once in over 35 years of piking.Ive had trout on deads and lives,eels on deads and even a salmon on a live!

 

Eels and wire? well I think the jury is still out on that one. Some guys cover the first couple of inches above the hook with rubber tube but Ive never bothered.I think my attitude is that even if I get less takes I would rather land them all! After all I would hate to get bitten off if that double ever did pick up my bait!

 

That's very interesting, I'm really surprised - not that I've had many mind, but this season alone I've had 3 perch between 1.5lb and 2.5lb on paternostered lives meant for pike (all from the Thames). A few seasons back I had (=fluked!) a 3lber on a static smelt fished on the bottom, from a big Surrey lake - now that was a surprise! You've obviously fished a lot of different waters and methods, so I wonder why it's never happened? Fishing's wierd!

 

I might start another topic on eels. I'm holding eels in reserve for when I need a new challenge - they have to be the most enigmatic and impressive specimens in our waters. Catching a big eel by design must be one of the biggest thrills in coarse fishing.

[pikergonecarpin]

I've never had a perch on a bait intended for pike either. Maybe it's down to the size of bait used?. I usually use fairly large baits, so perhaps that explains my lack of big perch captures

 

Paul.

[DrClaw]

First post, so I thought i'd add to this - I was out with my brother in law and a couple of mates on Saturday at the river ouse in Newport Pagnell. I was fishing a 6' lure in the hope of a pike but after 3 hours and no bites I decieded to change from the rattling lures to these little (2inch) jelly lures on a single hook still on 30lb wire trace. Within 10 mins I was getting perch in exactly the same spot I was casting before. After a couple of little one I pulled a PB beauty! Weighed it with the digitals and it was 3lb 11oz (new local record - pending the baliff ringing me back!) - this makes me think that although the fish was capable of taking the big lure it preferred the smaller one? One things for sure, if there are more perch like that in there i'm definately going back!!

 

Pic of the perch - http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p235/Dr...p;addtype=local

[Dick Dastardly]

I dont think its bait size as I quite often use 5" baits for perch and have had to use the same for pike when the circumstance dictates.

 

Other than one trout reservoir (where even here I have never had one on a pike bait despite taking a couple including my PB on lures meant for pike) I dont think any of my pike waters have ever contained a large head of big perch.Remember the boom in big perch is quite a recent thing in my fishing lifetime.Anderoo touched on this and the Thames where he fishs for pike certainly has a good number of these perch now.

[Brian Carragher]

When we've been fishing our local river with lives, we've been getting absolute superb runs that you think will give you a good fish but when you wind down and hit them , nothing. You're left waving your rod in thin air like some magicians wand wondering what's going wrong.

 

After a bit we came to the conclusion that big perch were taking the baits and a switch to smaller hooks(8's) has resulted in some nice perch coming out on standard pike wire with a two hook treble set up. The best perch so far has been 3lb 2oz, not mine though, I'm afraid the best I've managed whilst piking has been a straight 2lb

 

Still just goes to show that some of those runs might not be pike but decent perch munching your lives

[Steve Burke]

In my experience, the best size lure for perch will vary from water to water and from day to day. I've had big perch on everything from micro-jigs to 6 inch banana-shaped Flatfish.

 

However for specimen stripies, as for specimen pike, I find that bigger is better more often than the other way round. Sometimes though it pays to start small and increase the size if you don't catch.